| Abstrakt: |
One of the most straightforward strategies nowadays for the synthesis of carbo‐ and hetero‐helicenes is the oxidative photocyclization of stilbene derivatives under Mallory conditions. In this study, the reactivity of a series of 3,4‐dihalostyryl‐naphthalenes (Hal=Br, F and Cl) has been investigated using Mallory conditions towards the corresponding halogenated [4]helicene compounds. The difluoro precursor afforded the two isomeric 2,3‐ and 1,2‐difluoro‐[4]helicenes, resulting from the ring closure on the two possible positions of the substituted benzene ring, the dichloro compound led to the formation of a mixture of the two isomeric 2,3 and 1,2‐dichloro‐[4]helicenes together with the 2‐mono‐chloro derivative, while the dibromo precursor provided, unexpectedly, only 2,3‐dibromo‐[4]helicene and the 2‐mono‐bromo derivative. DFT calculations performed on the entire series of precursors, final helicenes and intermediate dihydrohelicenes, including the non‐halogenated congeners, reveal the highly energetically favorable formation of a second dihydrohelicene intermediate following a [1,9]‐hydrogen sigmatropic transposition. Whereas the existence of this transposed dihydrohelicene intermediate, more stable than the initially formed dihydrohelicene by 15–30 kcal/mol, was until now "hidden" in the non‐substituted series, it allows herein to explain its re‐aromatization through formal elimination of HX in order to provide the 2‐mono‐halogenated‐[4]helicene derivatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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